Clay meets the press Posted on 05/28/2003 8:20:50 AM PDT by Mister Magoo
Is Clay gay? You know we asked
Advocate.com was on the scene in Los Angeles for the American Idol finale and couldn’t resist asking runner-up Clay Aiken backstage if he knew how many of his gay fans hope that he’s family too.
By Alonso Duralde
An Advocate.com exclusive posted May 22, 2003
OK, so when Fox offered me press credentials to attend the big climactic results show of the second season of American Idol, I figured I could write something funny for Advocate.com about fashion (season 1 finalist Christina Christian carried a small dog with her down the red carpet) or bad singing (did you hear season 2 finalist Rickey Smith butcher Earth, Wind & Fire during the medley? Ouch) or Paula Abdul (guess what, Miss Thing, I grew up wanting to be a critic). But all that got pushed aside after I stood up at the press conference after the show wrapped and asked runner-up Clay Aiken the big question: “A lot of your fan base thinks you’re gay. Any comment on that?”
First, a little background for those who haven’t been watching the show. Aiken has gotten a great deal of press over the course of the show because of the big voice that emanates from his scrawny body. Throughout American Idol, Aiken has had his own Extreme Makeover, changing everything from his hair (fluffed out to cover up his car door ears) to the removal of his nerdy spectacles. While teen girls and middle-aged moms went all swoony for Aiken, the gaydars of queer viewers nationwide were going off. Loudly. Here’s a performer, we thought, who can’t open his mouth without littering the Idol stage with hairpins. The fluttering eyelids; the high-pitched chuckle; the angry-diva faces pulled whenever Simon Cowell criticized him; the hammy, Sam Harris-meets-Mandy Patinkin show-tune vocalizing—just about everything Clay does reads as gay. I’m not saying that I know whether he’s queer or not, but if he isn’t, he’s a very gay-acting heterosexual.
Clay meets the press
My boyfriend talks about Aiken’s goal to become a special-needs teacher as one that screams out as a career track often pursued by gay men. And my boyfriend also points out that there’s a definite subset of closeted Christian males in their 20s (having been one himself) who have so successfully repressed their sexuality that they don’t even know that they’re really gay. And that brand of asexuality is also a hallmark of Aiken’s singing. For all his technical proficiency, there’s no feeling that he’s ever experienced the painful love he likes to sing about. There’s no heartbreak in that voice, and there’s certainly no sex. If there were really such a magazine as Non-Threatening Boy (a favorite of The Simpsons’ Lisa), Aiken would be the Crush of the Year.
Jim Verraros and Ejay Day
So anyway, back to Wednesday’s American Idol finale and the press conference. After Clay told a gushing female reporter that he’s looking for a girl who’s “not too primped and permed and curled,” I asked my question.
He looked right at me. Then, without a word, he looked at another reporter and called on him. Mind you,up to this point almost no reporters had been called on—it was one of those yell-out-your-question-or-forget-it situations. But Clay was definitely not going to answer my question, not even to give me some “I love all my fans” or “It doesn’t matter what people think, as long as they buy my album” bromides. I got nothing from him. I got the brush-off. I got a freeze-out worthy of Joan Crawford.
Ruben and Clay
The generous interpretation of this is that he thought I was from the National Enquirer or some other supermarket tabloid, out to dig up dirt. Because after all, we all know the worst thing you can say about someone is that they’re gay, right? And it’s not like American Idol is dying to have an openly gay singer on the show: The Advocate left a million messages about Jim Verraros on Fox publicity voice mail during his stint on the program, but he ultimately came out in this magazine only after Idol was over. So what if British Pop Idol winner Will Young’s album topped the U.K. charts after he came out of the closet? Homosexuality is a subject the Idol-makers would just as soon avoid, apparently.
As to the not-so-generous interpretation of Aiken’s silence, I leave that for readers to figure out.
The Advocate's description of Clay is filled with bile, not admiration; if they weren't gay themselves, they could be accused of hate speech:
"Here's a performer, we thought, who can’t open his mouth without littering the Idol stage with hairpins. The fluttering eyelids; the high-pitched chuckle; the angry-diva faces pulled whenever Simon Cowell criticized him; the hammy, Sam Harris-meets-Mandy Patinkin show-tune vocalizing - just about everything Clay does reads as gay."
The stereotypical gay-bashing imagery is particularly pointed; no cliche is left unwritten. Had those at the Advocate thought Clay was truly gay, they would have written an article that was "sensitive", or at least flattering. Instead, they did their usual hate-filled "outing" hatchet job the Advocate reserves for men that they wish to destroy. Clay's professed Christianity may be the reason.
The Advocate does not Advocate for all gays, after all, but only for liberal gays who vote and speak as the Advocate and gay establishment tells them. A quiet, unsure, or conservative gay will be torn apart first not by his fans, his family, or his constituency, but by the "Advocate" themselves.
Espouse another view on "gay marriage" while professing to be gay? The Advocate will vilify you to the community. Speak out against pedophiles in the community? The Advocate will smear you as one. Struggle with your own homosexual feelings or experiences in private? The Advocate will post your name for your friends, family, fans, or followers to read on every street corner. The message to gays is loud and clear: do as the "Gay Establishment" tells you, or you will be publicly outed in a way that even the most vehement religious fundamentalist would condemn.
If you are a Christian who struggles with homosexuality, the message is especially blunt; out yourself, and give in, or we will tear you apart in public.
The Advocate advocates nothing but their own political agenda, and those who do not bow to it - gay or heterosexual - will be destroyed.
Whether or not "Clay is gay", one thing is for certain - the Advocate hates him, and hate is not a family value, is it, boys?
I don't care if he's gay or not (I believe he isn't). All I know is that he's got an awesome voice and I'm buying his album.
I never watch Idol. Not one single episode.
Do some folks want to know if he's gay, so they know they have a chance with him? Inquiring minds want to know!
ugh!
I guess today's a slow news day.
*shudder*
I can beat that. I was looking on Google once for a picture of a certain TV pitchman, and instead was informed of the existence of "Gay Billy Mays Fans" Yahoo group. I can't find the link, because Yahoo now hides all its hardcore pornographic groups from Google or even from Yahoo searches - you have to know the exact group name to access any of them, so it's all underground now. But the group's out there!
The Advocate's venom speaks for itself.
They openly spoke about their prayer circles on the show on a number of episodes. Clay said that he, Kimberly Locke and Ruben Studdard have been had prayer circles before every show since they made it to Hollywood. They were all in the same group at the start and made their way to the top 3.
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